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28 October 2012

Exiting news everyone, you may remember that last October Viv &
Mandy in the Big Clean up Part 1 was screened as part of the Flip International
Animation Festival? Well I’m very happy to say that Viv & Mandy in the Big
Clean up Part 2 will be getting screened at this year’s Flip animation festival
on the 2nd of November!

I’m very excited by this news and really looking forward to seeing Part
2 on the big screen in a room full of animation lovers who may even remember
seeing Part 1 last year. I’m very grateful to the people at Flip for once again
give this me and Viv & Mandy this opportunity, thank you very much!

This year’s Flip is going to be very cool as we have 5 different short
films from graduates from my university also been screened, so a big congratulations
to all of them as well!! For more information about the Flip International
Animation look athttp://www.flipfestival.co.uk/
to book tickets and see what great things they have going on there this year.

And for anyone who is going to flip come say hi or let me know as I want
to meet as many of my online animation mates face to face, and you can even
have your very own Viv & Mandy badge :D

6 October 2012

After the joy of last night Myself, Tommy and Gareth got up
nice and early and went over to a filmmaker’s breakfast networking event. We
sat down at a table and many different people went around the room and came
over to talk to use. We got to the meet and chat to some very interesting
people, some were fellow animation students, resent university graduates and
the film and animation advisers from the British Council. I learnt a lot from
these people and found out some interesting ways to help you get finding for
animation and short film ideas. These are something I will most defiantly be
keeping in mind for when I leve university next year.

The Lighter side

This is the last of the short animation screenings, and this
one felt much more like a bigger mix of short and longer studio animated
shorts. I had seen some of these shorts screened on TV over last year and it
was fantastic to see them on the big screen were every detail looked amazing. My
highlights from this screening were: Much Better Now, Phone Home,
Pythagasaurus, Stopover, A Different Perspective, Chop Chop and The Gruffalo’s
Child.

Nexus Studio Focus

Nexus Productions are an independent production company and
animation studio based in London check them out here! This one was grate a mix
of a show and tell presentation with the screenings, 4 people from the studio
sat there speaking about the company; they would show a short then talk about the
making of that short. This was a very different way to screen the shorts and I
have to say I really enjoyed it, this is exactly how in my eyes the 2 Aardman
screening should have been like. My highlights from this screening were: Back
to the Start, Invade all of the Humans!!!, The Chase, Speed of Light and This
Way Up. But if I was to pick one it would have to be Invade all of the Humans!!
Hands down!

Trip to the Aardman Lobby

After the last screening Tommy and myself decided to go for
a little walk around Bristol and hopefully find The Aardman animations Studio.
To cut the tale short we ended up finding the studio, and after about 5 minutes
standing outside saying should we or should we not ring the bell, we rang bell.

The very nice chap behind the desk let us in and very kindly
let us have a look around the amazing props, Puppets, sets and life size
Wallace they have on display in the Lobby. To say that this was an amazing and
very overwhelming felling to be standing in the middle of Aardman is a big
understatement. One day it would be fantastic to get any form of Work experience
there, or even the full on tour would keep me happy, but until then I have got
theses pitchers to remind me of just how amazing it was.

Late Lounge

Still buzzing from are trip to Aardman we then mad are way
over the Late Lounge. This screening was a mix of live action and animated
shorts that are a little to adult themed to show in the day screenings. There
were some that were very funny and some that were a tad disturbing, but the
quality of shorts was fantastic. My highlights from this screening were: Tram,
The Bob shorts, Curiosity Kills and Umshini Wam (Bring Me My Machine Gum)

Day 4:

Aardman Kids Animation Workshop

This was my last day in Bristol and a brilliant way to end
it was to go to a build your own Gromit work shop with the very awesome Aardman
model maker Jim Parkyn. Although me and Tommy were some of the oldest in the
room this was a cracking work shop that lasted just over an hour. Using a sheet
of basic shapes we used these to build are very own Gromit, and I have to say I
was very happy with the way mine came out. And thank you Jim for letting me
keep the modelling tool with the Aardman logo on it I will use it with
pride!

Once the workshop was over we stayed back and had a very
nice chat with Jim about most things animation, I then handed him one of my
cards and a Viv & Mandy badges. Once out of the workshop Tommy and I said a
jolly good bye, parted ways and i got the train back to Sunny Stoke.

Now I am back into the full swing of university life I can
say that all in all this festival has been one hell of an amazing experience
and I’d like to say a massive thank you to all the truly amazing people that I
got to meet, chat to and spend time with. I very much hope that I can make it over
to the festival again next year, so until then buy buy Bristol!

2 October 2012

This was the third selection of animated screening and as you
may be able to guess from the tile most of these animations were animal themed.
This screening was an exciting one as this was the screening were former
Graduates form my university including Tommy had there film The Money Tree
shown, and it was a grate felling to see it on the big screen for them. My highlights from this screening: The Money
Tree, Rising Hope, L’Ere Bête, Ride Of Passage, Ernesto, and The Tortoise

Time Passages

Before this screening I meet up with Katie McQuin who is a
community manager at Aardman. I know Katie from posting animations on the
Wallace and Gromit site and twitter. I meet here for a little chat last year
and it was grate to she hear again and have a good long chat, and she was very
happy to get her very own Viv & Mandy badge. Myself, Katie and Gareth head
in to the next screening. This was the fourth set of animated shorts to play and
themed about gods, death and the environment. My highlights from this screening
were: Zing, A Life Well-Seasoned, Atlas, Seven Minutes in the Warsaw Ghetto and
Bendito Machine IV

Setting the scene: Layout workshop

The workshop was held by Fraser Maclean the author of the
book setting the Scene, this was an interesting talk were he spoke about his
personal jobs within animation, his first job was doing some of the shadow FX
work on Who Framed Roger Rabbit. He then went on to talk about the past 100
years of animation layout in a brief history, showing clips for different films
and shorts as examples. The full history of layout is in his book that you can
check out here! Id highly recommend it for all animators but more so if you are
a 3D and 2D animator/ director. As staging can make or break a scene. Also
Fraser is a very nice, friendly and easy to talk to chap.

Before this workshop started I spotted that I was sat next
Mr Ben Mitchell who is the co-hosts of the brilliant Skwigly Animation pod cast
check out there site here! And you can download the pod cast here! or on
ITunes. I had been chatting to Ben on and off over the last year over twitter,
so It was nice to introduce myself and put a face to the voce and tweets.

Over in the Art gallery close to the festival they had the
pirate ship used in The Pirates! Film on display in the lobby, and boy this
ship was massive!! The details on the ship were stunning the mast, sales and
rigging alone was over 2 stories high. This made it hard to fit into a single
photo but hear it is in all its glory

Directors UK: Sam Fell

This event was a big one for stop motion Animators, and
because of this it meant that most of the online stop motion twitter community
were all coming down for it (you know who you all are). We all met up before
hand in the watershed bar. I got to chat up with sum of gang that I have met
before and some who I was meeting for the first time, a big one for me to meet
was stop motion animator Tim Alan who has worked on Corpse Bride Mr Fox and the
up-coming Frankenweenie, if you don’t know who he is then check out this sitehere! He has done some brilliant work over the years!

Once we all had a little catch up we all made are way over
to the screening of Paranorman (if you have not seen it yet I say you must run
and go see it now!!) this will be followed by an interview and Q&A with the
films co-director Sam Fell. Even though I had seen the film before the
atmosphere of seeing an animated film in a room full of animators and animation
lovers was something I have never experienced before and what a buzz it gives
you, fingers crossed this will be the first of many like this. Once the film
had finished and every one had picked their jaws up off the floor and stopped clapping
out came Sam.

This chat gave a grate inside into what went into making the
film. He spoke about the character design, the 3D printing, casting the film, picking
the actors, walking the thin line of not making it too scary for kids and the
big question on all animator’s lips how did you feel when you heard that
Frankenweenie was coming out this year as well. Once the chat was over I got to
briefly meet Sam, were I got introduce myself, have a short chat and I gave him
my card. He very kindly did me and Gareth a quick singed drawing of Norman etch
that I will be getting frame at some point very soon.

After the chat with Sam a big bunch of use all went to that
after screening drinks/ get-together on a boat / pub. This was a great chance
to meet more people and have a good chat with some animators and directors in a
very chilled and relaxed manner. thanks to my idea of tweeting a photo of the
badges I was wearing I got spotted and had a very nice chat with managing
director of Slurpy studios Aaron Wood check them out here!Later on in the night myself and Gareth got
to have a drink from and more brilliant chit-chat with Tim Alan as well. After
the boat party we all made are way to a different pub and carried on with the
friendly animation and all things nerdy conversation, before calling it a
night.

About me

Hello there,
I'm a freelance Stop Motion Animator and Puppet maker I have been animating now for 10 years and in that time I have manage to build up my skills, had some amazing experiences and have won a number of awards. I have now graduated from Staffordshire university with a 1st class degree in Stop motion animation. Feel free to have a look around my work, any comments and feedback you may have are very welcome.